This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7xc2xa7119 and/or 365 to 9801602-5 filed in Sweden on May 8, 1998; the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The present invention relates to provision of communication between clients and managed systems via managing systems wherein the managed systems particularly are network elements, even more particularly in the form of telephone exchanges. Particularly the invention relates to an arrangement for providing communication between clients and managed systems via a managing system, and a method and a system in which communication is provided between clients and managed systems.
Many telecommunication systems have an architecture that was developed in the seventies. At that time the constraints and design considerations were different from today, CPU (Central Processor Unit) cycles were expensive and communication between computers was almost non existent. Due to large investments in time as well as money it is infeasible to replace these systems or even to replace the architecture. One example on a structure is the AXE structure developed by Ericsson. This architecture has proved to be very scaleable. Applications in this structure are written as function blocks. The AXE defines a structure for communication between function blocks and the management of the function blocks has been standardized. The management is handled by a command language called Man Machine Language (MML) that is communicated over an X.25 connection. MML Man-Machine Language is a language for telecommunications applications. It has a complex natural-language syntax. It is further described in ITU-T, formally CCITT Recommendations Z.311-Z.318, Z-341, November 1984.
The communication to an AXE is handled with the Message Transfer Protocol (MTP) over X.25. This combination is responsible for transferring a command string to the AXE exchange and returning a direct print-out string or transferring a file.
A management program requires a programmatic interface to the AXE. Many different interfaces have been devised but unfortunately all of these interfaces are dedicated to the AXE (similar for other exchanges) which makes the use of standard applications very difficult since they are not aware of these highly specialized interfaces. Until recently this was not felt as a problem since the management of the AXEs was handled by highly skilled people in dedicated control centers. However, this has now changed, mainly because of two factors. Firstly, the enormous growth of telecommunications in quantity and quality have multiplied the need of management. The huge amount of services available to subscribers today also have be maintained. Secondly, the operators of telecommunications have become more aware of what actually is possible today and do not accept solutions which are not as good as that what is offered on the market. The operators want well designed graphic user interfaces and (possibility of) integration with tools from other vendors. Systems are known which use so called CGI scripts. Through such systems a broad range of possibilities for accessing of resources are offered and they are based on a standard conversion of a HTTP format. However, a sufficiently high performance is not achieved and furthermore the features depend on the platforms. Furthermore such solutions are not satisfactory and they do not provide a total system solution as far as managing a network using several independent management functions is concerned.
In known systems, generally, the specific software has to be built for each database, each table, user information, intelligent software etc. that is operated towards. Thus a specific interface has to be provided for each application which to high extent limits the flexibility.
What is needed is therefore an arrangement for providing communication between clients and managed systems via a managing system which is flexible and through which a uniform way of communication with the different managed systems is enabled. Furthermore, an arrangement is needed which enables managing of a network using several independent management functions in a uniform way. Further yet an arrangement is needed through which the high performance needs can be satisfied to a higher extent than hitherto and through which a platform independence is provided. Still further an arrangement is needed which does not require specific interfaces for communication with particular managed systems, such as network elements, particularly telephone exchanges such as AXE, PBX etc. Still further an arrangement is needed through which the use of standard applications is facilitated.
A system including a number of clients in which applications are executed and a number of management nodes and a number of managed systems wherein the clients communicate with the management nodes using a first network and the management nodes communicate with the managed systems using a second network is also needed through which the above mentioned objects can be achieved.
Still further a method of providing communication between clients in which applications are executed, and managed systems is needed through which the above mentioned objects are achieved.
Therefore an arrangement for providing communication between clients and managed systems via a managing system is provided wherein the clients communicate with the managing system over a first network using an IP (Internet Protocol). The managing system in turn communicates with a number of managed systems over a second network and the managing system comprises a service management node including information separating and distributing means for separating addressing information from other information of an incoming message from a client and for adapting the information to the communication protocol that is used for communication with the addressed managed system. Particularly an application which contains the major part of the logic is executed on the client and the information used by said application is provided in a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) which is provided to the managing system. Further still, each managed system acts and is experienced as a web server. The managed systems are advantageously network elements which particularly may consist of telecommunication exchanges such as for example AXEs or similar. Alternatively the exchanges may be PBXs (PABXs) (Private Automatic Branch Exchange).
In a particular embodiment the adapting means includes a number of converters for converting an incoming URL to the protocol used for communication with the addressed managed system. Particularly there is one converter for each type of managed system, particularly network element or even more particularly telephone exchange, with which communication is provided via the managing systems.
The management node may in addition thereto contain a number of gateways for communication with the managed systems such as network elements, telephone exchanges, wherein the respective converting means communicate with said gateways over a third protocol such as for example Telnet. According to different embodiments converting means and gateways may be provided in one common entity but they may also be provided separately as referred to above in which case they communicate over a protocol. Particularly the communication with each managed system, for example NE or even more particularly telephone exchange, is provided uniformly irrespectively of which is the type of the managed system (network element, telephone exchange). The clients may be operator controlled but they may also function without an operator and for example be programmed to fetch information at a given frequency, to store said information and to reproduce or represent the information in an appropriate manner to a managed system. Advantageously each client comprises logic or intelligent processing means for deciding to which managed system, e.g. network element, or type of network element, information is to be sent. The managed systems, or particularly the network elements (telephone exchanges), are configured by the use of an MML-language. Particularly the executing functionality in a client contains data which is structured for each type of managed system (c.f. network element, telephone exchange) and the client further contains means for selecting syntax and information intended for the concerned managed system. In the converting means information in URL-format is converted or mapped to MML-format and a gateway may be used for communication with the relevant managed system or network element.
A management node communicating with a number of clients via a first network and managing a number of managed systems over a second network is also provided. The first network is an IP-network using an IP-protocol and URLs are used for communication with the node. The node comprises information separating and distributing means for separating addressing information addressing a managed system from other information and for adapting information to the protocol used for communication with the addressed managed system.
Particularly the management node contains a number of protocol converting means, one for each type of managed system, particularly network element. As referred to above the managed systems advantageously are network elements, particularly telephone exchanges such as AXEs (Ericsson); S12 (Alcatel); EWSD (Siemens) or similar, PBXs etc.
A system is therefore also provided which includes a number of clients in which applications are executed, a number of management nodes and a number of managed systems. The clients communicate with the management nodes using a first network and the management nodes communicate with the respective managed systems using at least one second network. The first network is according to the invention an IP-network using an IP-protocol and the information of the executed application is provided in URLs containing information about the relevant management node and the management nodes include information separation and distributing means for separating addressing information of an addressed managed system and converting means are provided for conversion from the protocol of incoming information, URLs, to the protocol used for communication with the addressed managed system. In each management node there is advantageously one converting means for each type of managed system with which the particular management node communicates. From the URLs can be deduced which specific managed system (type of managed system) that is addressed.
Particularly the managed systems are network elements which may consist of telephone exchanges such as AXE or similar, PBXs etc. whereas the management node is comprised in a managing system, for example in the form of an operation system (OS), cf. TMN, Telecommunications Management Network, ITU-T M.3010, or OSSs (Operation and Support Systems).
A method is therefore also provided for providing communication between clients and managed systems wherein applications are executed in the clients which address particular managed systems (or types thereof). The method comprises the steps of, providing if information of the executing application in an URL, using a first IP-network for providing information of the URL to the relevant managing system managing the addressed managed system, establishing in the managing system which is the addressed managed system, converting information in the form of an URL to the protocol used for communication with the particularly addressed managed system and providing converted information using a second network to the addressed managed system. As referred to above the managed systems may particularly be telephone exchanges. Particularly, in the managing system separate converting means are provided for each type of managed system and on receiving the URL in the managing system, which comprises a management node, the URL is forwarded to the appropriate converting means using the addressing information. Particularly MML is used for communication between the managing system and the managed systems and the converting means convert URL-format to MML-format.